Pascal Simbikangwa, a wheelchair-bound former army captain, becomes the first Rwandan to be tried in France over his alleged role in the genocide that saw 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis, killed

A wheelchair-bound former intelligence chief yesterday became the first Rwandan to stand trial in France for complicity in the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people were killed.

Pascal Simbikangwa’s trial follows persistent criticism that France made every effort to stall the landmark proceedings for 20 years, as they risked highlighting its failure to rein in the Rwandan regime at the time of the 100-day killing spree.

Mr Simbikangwa, 54, who denies all charges, appeared in court in a wheelchair after a 1986 car accident that left him a paraplegic. He faces life in prison at the end of the trial, due to last six to eight weeks.

He is charged with inciting, organising and aiding massacres during the genocide. Prosecutors accuse him of supplying arms and instructions to Hutu militia who were manning roadblocks and killing Tutsi men, women and children.

Mr Simbikangwa, the head of domestic intelligence, was one of the principal shareholders of Radio des Milles Collines, dubbed “Radio Machete” for its notorious role in exhorting Hutus to massacre Tutsis.

He is being tried under a 1996 law that allow French courts to consider cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in other countries.

The Rwandan government, whose relations with France are still frosty, welcomed the trial. Johnston Busingye, the justice minister, said: “It is history being made. We have always wondered why it has taken 20 years. It is late, but it is a good sign.”

The Tutsi-dominated Kigali government has previously accused France of “complicity” in genocide for having trained and armed Hutu forces at the time, then protecting the perpetrators of the genocide as they fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most of the victims were members of the minority Tutsi community.

Fined a decade ago by the European Court of Human Rights for dragging its heels on cases filed since 1995, France created a special genocide investigation unit two years ago that has studied 20 legal complaints.

Mr Simbikangwa acknowledges being close to the regime of Juvenal Habyarimana, the Hutu president whose assassination on April 6, 1994, unleashed the genocide. But he denies participating in or organising massacres.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to testify, nearly all for the prosecution.

Dafroza Gauthier, who lost at least 80 family members in the genocide, and has been hunting perpetrators for the past two decades, said: “I am especially dedicating this [trial] to the anonymous victims of Pascal Simbikangwa, those without a name, a grave.”

Alain Gauthier, her husband and chairman of the group of civil parties in the case, CPCR, said: “We have denounced the role of France enough times, now we will see what justice says,” he said.

Mr Simbikangwa’s lawyers said he was being made a “scapegoat” for the genocide, on the approach of its 20th anniversary. “We get the impression that Pascal Simbikangwa must be convicted because he is the first to be brought before the courts and that he must be made an example,” said Alexandra Bourgeot and Fabrice Epstein.